a crowd was sitting around him

The Greek in Mark 3:32 that is translated as “a crowd was sitting around him” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as er saß im Kreis vieler Zuhörer or “he sat in the circle of many listeners.”

Mark 3:31-35 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:31-35 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus was teaching the people. The people sat and listened to him. Jesus’ mother, brothers and sisters came there. There were a lot of people. The mother, brothers and sisters could not come near. Then they asked the people to tell Jesus:

— We have come. Come to us!

The people told Jesus:

— Your mother, brothers and sister have come. Come to them.

Jesus replied:

— Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?

Then Jesus pointed to the people who were listening to him and said:

— Here is my mother! Here are my brothers! Whoever listens to God and does his will is my mother, brother and sister!

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Иисус учил народ. Люди сидели и слушали его. Туда пришли мать, братья и сестры Иисуса. Было много народа. Мать, братья и сестры не могли подойти. Тогда они попросили людей передать Иисусу:

— Мы пришли. Подойди к нам!

Люди передали Иисусу:

— Твоя мать, братья и сестра пришли. Подойди к ним.

Иисус ответил:

— А кто моя мать? Кто мои братья?

Потом Иисус показал на людей, которые его слушали, и сказал:

— Вот моя мать! Вот мои братья! Кто слушает Бога и исполняет Его волю, тот мне мать, брат и сестра!

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 3:20-30 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 4:1-9 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 3:20-35 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:20-35 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:


© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)

Jesús y los discípulos fueron juntos a una casa, y una multitud personas también fue a la casa y la entró y la casa estaba llena de personas y Jesús y sus discípulos no comían nada.

Personas chismearon y contaron la familia de Jesús: “Las multitudes van a él y Jesús no come nada.”

La familia (dijo): “Ay Jesús está loco, ahorita lo traigamos, vamonos”. Y fueron (por él).

En la misma casa había algunos maestros de la ley de Jerusalén que lo vieron y dijeron: “Jesús tiene adentro de él el rey de los demonios, que se llama Beelzebú. Jesús y él tienen una conspiración y el demonio ayuda a Jesús, así que puede expulsar demonios.”

Jesús dijo: “¿El demonio me ayuda? Es absurdo. Les doy un ejemplo: Si yo soy un demonio y quiero expulsar a un demonio, ¿lo puedo? No puedo, es imposible, yo también soy demonio.

Por ejemplo, primero: Si diferentes gobiernos se pelean ellos fracasarán.

Segundo: Si en una familia ellos se pelean, se separarán.

Tercero: Si dos demonios se pelean no ganan nada, los dos se eliminarán.

Otro ejemplo: Una persona entra en una casa y toma cosas, y un hombre fuerte y poderoso lo ve. Le tiene miedo (al hombre fuerte) porque lo vio.

Primero debe agarrarlo (al hombre fuerte) y atarlo hasta que esté impotente en el piso y esto hecho puede libremente recoger las cosas.

Este ejemplo del (hombre) fuerte y poderoso es como el rey de los demonios, ¿entienden?

Les advierto y digo la verdad; si una persona hace pecados diferentes y es irrespetuoso contra Dios y después pide perdón, Dios lo perdonará y borrará sus pecados.

Pero hay una excepción: Si uds insultan contra el espíritu santo y lo apodan demonio, huy, no serán perdonados jamás, habrá un castigo fuerte para siempre.”

Allá vino la familia de Jesús y tocaban alguién: “Por favor, que Jesús venga” y el hombre dijo a Jesús: “Tu mamá y tus hermanos te llaman, por allá.”

Jesús miró a sus familiares y a la multitud, a todas las personas que estaban sentadas alrededor, y Jesús dijo: “Les pregunto: ¿Quiénes son mi mamá y mis hermanos?

Uds mismos son mi familia, porque uds obedecen sólo a Dios, por eso uds son mi mamá y mis hermanos.”


Jesus and the disciples went together to a house and a multitude of people also went to the house and entered it and the house was full of people, and Jesus and his disciples did not eat anything.

Some people gossiped and told Jesus’ family: “The multitudes go to him and Jesus does not eat anything.”

The family (said): “Ah, Jesus has gone mad, we will bring him back now, let’s go.” And they went (for him).

In the same house there were some teachers of the law from Jerusalem, and they watched him and said: “Jesus has inside him the king of demons, which is called Beelzebub. Jesus and he are conspiring together and the demon is helping Jesus so that he can throw out demons.”

Jesus said: “So the demon is helping me? That’s absurd. Let me give you an example: If I am a demon and I want to throw out a demon, can I? No I cannot, it’s impossible, I am a demon myself.

“For example, firstly: If different governments fight with each other they will all go down.

“Secondly: If the people in a family fight together they will be separated.

“Thirdly: If two demons fight together, they do not gain anything, both will be eliminated.

“Another example: A person enters a house and takes things away and a strong, powerful man sees him, he gets frightened because he’s been seen.

“First he has to take hold (of the strong man) tie him up so that he lies wriggling on the floor and when that is done he can freely collect the things.

“This example of the strong and powerful (man) is like the king of demons, do you understand?

“I warn you, and I say the truth; if a person does different sins and is disrespectful towards God and afterwards asks forgiveness, God will forgive him and delete his sins.

“But there is one exception: If you insult the Holy Spirit and nickname him a demon, wow, you will never be forgiven, there will be a strong punishment forever.”

Over there the family of Jesus came and they touched someone: “Please, let Jesus come” and the man went and told Jesus: “Your mother and brothers call you, over there.”

Jesus looked at his family and at the multitude, at all the people seated around him, and Jesus said: “I ask you, who are my mother and my brothers?

“You yourselves are my family, because you obey only God, that’s why you are my mother and my brothers.”

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 3:13-19 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 4:1-9 in Mexican Sign Language >>

formal pronoun: common people addressing Jesus

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, the crowd (or individuals within the crowd) addresses Jesus with the formal pronoun, expressing respect.

complete verse (Mark 3:32)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 3:32:

  • Uma: “At that time many people were around Yesus, they said to him: ‘Teacher, your (sing.) mother and relatives, they are outside searching for you (sing.).'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, very-many people were sitting surrounding Isa. Then someone told him, he said, ‘Sir, your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There were very many people sitting around Jesus, and the people said to Jesus, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want you to go out.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore the many-people who were sitting surrounding him said, ‘Your (sing.) mother and your (sing.) brothers are outside having-you (sing.) -called.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “for inside was full of people. Really many were sitting around Jesus. Without anything further, Jesus was told that his mother and younger-siblings were there outside. They were causing him to come out.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Luke 8:20 / Matthew 12:47 / Mark 3:32 (Japanese honorifics)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One important aspect of addressing someone else in one’s or someone else’s family is by selecting the correct word when referring to them. One way to do this is through the usage of an appropriate title within a conversation as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses an archaic honorific form for “mother” haha-ue (母上) is chosen over the contemporary honorific form o-kā-sama (お母様) and “brothers” is translated as kyōdai-gata (兄弟方), combining “brother” (kyōdai) with the honorific plural suffix -gata (and in the case of Mark 13:32, kyōdai-shimai-gata [兄弟姉妹方] “brothers and sisters” with the same plural suffix is used). The verbs in these verses (“meet,” “see,” “speak” respectively) are also preceded by the honorific prefixes go- or o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Japanese benefactives (goran)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, goran (ご覧) or “see/behold/look” (itself a combination of “behold/see” [ran] and the honorific prefix go- — see behold / look / see (Japanese honorifics)) is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("has come")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, kiteo-rare-ru (来ておられる) or “has come” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )